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Once the students can read ‘ar’ words, you can move on to the spelling of these words. Notice how the ‘ar’ is underlined for the reader to indicate that it is a digraph – two letters are representing one sound. You can help struggling students to remember this by using sound buttons for sound counting (as seen in the Letters and Sounds program). When counting the number of sounds in a word, ‘ar’ counts as just one sound, /ar/. DO NOT give the students words with ‘ar’ in the second syllable at this stage (I’ll explain why a little later). Have the students read two-syllable words with ‘ar’ in the first syllable only. Teaching TipsĪn R Controlled Syllable is one of 6 types of syllables. Repeat the process until the students understand this concept. Have the students read ‘cat’ then replace the ‘a’ with ‘ar’ and read ‘cart’ (there’s also a worksheet for this in our bundle!) Have them read ‘had’ then replace the ‘a’ with ‘ar’ and read ‘hard’. Repeat the process with other CVC words, asking the students to read the word with ‘ar’ (there’s a worksheet for this in our ‘ar’ worksheet bundle below). Tell the students that the consonant ‘r’ changes the sound of the vowel immediately before it and read the word ‘car’ for them. Have your students read CVC words containing short ‘a’, for example: ‘can’, ‘cat’, ‘cab’, and ‘cap’. The word ‘heart’ is an irregular, tricky word). Because /ar/ is the most commonly used R Controlled Vowel sound and has only one representation, we use this to introduce what happens when ‘r’ is in charge. In systematic phonics instruction, you move from simple to complex and most common representations to less common.
#R controlled vowel sounds how to#
How to Teach the R Controlled Vowels Start with ‘ar’ I prefer to use the mnemonic ‘R in Charge’.įree ‘R in Charge’ poster. In some phonics programs, the letter ‘r’ is called ‘Bossy R’ to help students understand the strong impact this consonant has on the preceding vowels. R Controlled words make up about 10% of single syllable words. What Are the R Controlled Vowel Representations?
#R controlled vowel sounds free#
The ‘r’ following the vowel distorts the typical vowel sound, creating a new vowel sound (sometimes referred to as a ‘growl vowel’).In our Letters and Sounds progression of sounds, included in the Teacher’s Account (you can grab your access to our free core resources), you will find ‘ar’ and ‘or’ on level 6A and ‘er’ on level 6C. In this blog, I will talk about effective ways to teach the R Controlled Vowels. But have you taught the R Controlled Vowels?Īn ‘R Controlled’ vowel is one immediately followed by the letter ‘r’ and which can no longer be pronounced as a long or short vowel. You’ve taught your students the long vowel sounds and their representations. You’ve taught your students the short vowel sounds and their representations. R Controlled Vowels and How to Teach Them
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